Asymmetric New Organizational Structure

Overview

As part of the agency's rebrand and shift to a strategy-first model, Asymmetric adopted a two-track organizational structure separating client strategy from production execution. The design principle is explicit: structure should follow strategy, not the other way around. The previous model had everyone doing a mix of client-facing and production work, creating accountability gaps and a commodity-service orientation. The new model assigns clear ownership at each layer.

See also: ^[1] | ^[2]

Org Structure at a Glance

Mark Hope (Owner)
├── Karly Oykhman — Strategic Client Leader
│   └── Ben — Coordinator (bridge to production)
├── Sebastian — Director of Operations
│   ├── Gilbert — Performance Marketing & Analytics
│   ├── Raphael — Automation & Development
│   ├── Isalia — Administrative Manager
│   └── Philippine Production Bench (creative, dev)

Role Definitions

Mark Hope — Owner

Focus areas (retained):
- Diagnosis & architecture — competitive analysis, strategy development, identifying client solutions
- Solution building — custom tools, AI-powered apps, websites, technology platforms
- Closing business — high close rate on qualified calls; not responsible for prospecting
- Senior client relationships — quarterly top-to-top conversations with owners

Delegated away:
- People management
- Administrative work
- Routine deliverables
- Day-to-day client communications

"There's some work that I can do that others can't do in the same way just because of experience... nobody really wants their strategy from a 25-year-old."

Karly Oykhman — Strategic Client Leader

Focus areas:
- Client strategy and roadmapping — dedicated thinking time per client, brainstorming with AI, reviewing competitive landscape
- Client communication — primary relationship owner for all active accounts; builds deep trust and long-term relationships
- Performance review — interprets Gilbert's analytics data and translates into strategic priorities
- Ad direction — gives Gilbert direction on campaigns; does not build or manage ads directly
- Work plan ownership — defines what needs to be done and why; hands off to Sebastian for execution

Delegated away:
- Production management
- ClickUp updates
- Chasing contractors on deadlines
- Administrative topics

Client cadence:
- Tier 1 (A-List): weekly or bi-weekly calls
- Tier 2 (Growth Potential): monthly calls
- Tier 3 (Troublesome/Low ROI): quarterly or as-needed

Protected time:
Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are blocked for strategic thinking. If reactive client requests consume this time, the model breaks down.

"You're the what and the why — Sebastian is the how and the when."

Sebastian — Director of Operations

Focus areas:
- Owns ClickUp — sprint planning, task assignment, capacity management
- Translates Karly's strategy and work plans into actionable briefs for the production bench
- Quality gate — reviews all completed work before it moves to Ben for packaging and delivery
- Technical client support
- Brief quality discipline — pushes back on incomplete or unclear briefs before work begins

Workflow position:
Karly defines priorities → Sebastian breaks them into tasks → bench executes → Sebastian QAs → Ben packages → Karly delivers to client

Ben — Coordinator

Proposed role:
Bridge between Karly and Sebastian. Handles scheduling, meeting prep, client action item tracking, and packaging completed deliverables for client-facing delivery.

Status:
On a 90-day performance improvement plan (PIP) to demonstrate value in this coordinator role. Role definition still being finalized.

Gilbert — Performance Marketing & Analytics

Focus areas:
- Performance marketing: building, optimizing, and managing paid ad campaigns (daily hands-on management, bid optimization)
- Analytics: attribution, tracking, platform data — supported by X-ray tooling and Looker dashboards to reduce manual reporting burden

Additional potential:
Cultural lead / informal point of contact for the Philippine production team — same time zone, shared language, can maintain team cohesion without formal management overhead.

Raphael — Automation & Development

Focus areas:
- Automation work
- Website development
- Email and blog post production (current)
- Candidate for elevation given tenure — additional technical responsibilities being scoped

Isalia — Administrative Manager

Focus areas:
- Invoicing and accounts receivable
- Coordination with external accounting team
- Contractor payments
- Calendar management for Mark
- General administrative operations

Philippine Production Bench

Three-person creative team (content/design) plus two developers (Eshok as lead, Jeff as secondary). Cost-efficient relative to US equivalents; used for consistent, repeatable production work. Gilbert serves as informal cultural liaison.

Workflow: Strategy to Delivery

1. Karly reviews Gilbert's analytics data and client context; develops strategic priorities
2. Karly communicates ad strategy to Gilbert and work plans to Sebastian
3. Sebastian translates work plans into ClickUp tasks; assigns to bench
4. Bench executes
5. Sebastian performs quality check on completed work
6. Ben packages deliverables and prepares client-facing materials
7. Karly leads client conversations and presents results

Monthly: Mark and Karly hold a joint strategy session per client; Karly communicates outcomes to client and loops Sebastian into execution.

Key Design Principles

• Strategy-driven structure — the org is designed around what the business wants to do, not around the people currently employed
• Separation of concerns — client strategy and production execution are distinct tracks with distinct owners
• Protected strategic capacity — Karly's thinking time is non-negotiable; reactive work is absorbed by Ben and Sebastian
• Lean fixed costs — Philippine team provides production scale at low cost; US headcount is kept minimal and high-leverage
• SaaS and tooling as a second revenue track — Mark builds multi-tenant tools (e.g., Hazard OS) that can be productized; this work sits outside the client service org

Personnel Decisions (as of restructuring)

Related

• ^[2]
• ^[3]
• ^[4]
• ^[5]